PHYSICAL REHABILITATION

Chronic pain and acute injuries typically takes two different forms. In the first, patients have pain at all times although the intensity may vary. In the second, patients have frequent exacerbations (which are often severe) but remain relatively free of pain between episodes. Passive treatments such as Chiropractic Care are beneficial but often the results are only temporary without the combination of strength training and physical rehabilitation.

Lasting relief comes from improvements in physical fitness and corrective exercises. People with chronic or acute pain become experts at protecting the affected body part. For example, people with chronic low back pain learn to do activities without stressing the back. While this may help to prevent severe exacerbations, a physiologic price must be paid. Whenever any body part is not used in the normal manner, it atrophies and weakens. The joints stiffen up. Movement becomes more difficult and painful. Essentially, the affected body part becomes fragile. The more it is protected, the more fragile it becomes. Passive treatment alone does not make a fragile back less fragile. This can only be accomplished with the correct kind of corrective exercise.

Corrective exercise or therapeutic exercises are designed to address and correct deficiencies that deviate from normal ranges. Most people have been programmed to believe that they need to strengthen the area of concern or injury to heal or prevent any subsequent injuries to the area. This may be the case for some people, but what if you had an injury that prevented the normal contraction or lengthening of a muscle? Or worse yet, an adhesion that literally had two muscles sticking together? Would strengthening the area with weights resolve or make the muscles stronger? Common sense would suggest you need to resolve the soft tissue issues first, using a soft muscle technique like ART. Once the soft tissue injury is resolved, any corrective exercise will be better accepted and produce the results the participant was looking for. The goal is to restore normal muscle function, normal range of motion, and improve strength. We achieve this with our patients with the correct programs at the right time.